The New Conditions for Coverage requires all dialysis technicians be certified by January 2010. The National Association of Nephrology Technicians (NANT) has prepared a special Study Package for technicians to use in preparing for certification. This Study Package provides a $40 savings compared to purchasing the books separately. NANT offers the best exam prep books for technicians.

To order the Study Package, please visit the NANT web-store at www.dialysistech.net

Health Literacy Month, celebrated each October, is a time when health literacy advocates around the world promote the importance of understandable health information. This month is a time for all health literacy advocates to let the world know why health literacy matters.

To learn more about Health Literacy Month, go to www.healthliteracymonth.org, email Helen Osborne at helen@healthliteracy.com or call 508-653-1199.

The final rule of Conditions for Coverage requires the submission and maintenance of electronic patient and provider records for all dialysis facilities in the United States (§494.180(h)). This requirement takes effect on February 1, 2009. To support this mandate, CMS announces the Consolidated Renal Operations in a Web Enabled Network (CROWNWeb), a web-based software application that all dialysis facilities will be required to use beginning February 1, 2009. Use of CROWNWeb for data submission by February 1, 2009 is mandatory to support CMS’s goals of quality improvement and performance assessment, as well as to ensure prompt claims processing and reimbursement.

To learn more about CROWNWeb visit the CROWNWeb section of our website.

Citation for this requirement can be found on the CMS website: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ESRDQualityImproveInit/06_Data.asp

ESRD Network of New England was awarded a special project on “Analysis of Withdrawal from Dialysis, Discontinuation of Dialysis, and Referral to Hospice Care in Dialysis Patients” by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. The project was conducted July 2005 to June 2006 to study variation in reporting of discontinuation of dialysis treatments, withdrawal from dialysis and barriers to use of the hospice services. Three ESRD Networks, Network 1, 5 and 12 participated in the study.

To learn more about this project, clich here to view a PowerPoint presentation.

FDA requests that health professionals and facilities review and examine all drug/device storage areas to ensure that all recalled heparin products have been removed and are no longer available for patient use.

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/safety/2008/safety08.htm#HeparinInj2

The ESRD Network New England (Network 1), in collaboration with Mid-Atlantic Renal Coalition (Network 5), has created a 5-Diamond Patient Safety Program to assist dialysis facilities with the improvement of both staff and patient awareness of specific patient safety areas.

The goals of the program include the following:

• To build a patient safety culture in every dialysis unit
• To promote patient safety values
• To create an awareness of patient safety issues
• To help dialysis units learn more about specific areas of patient safety

For more information on how to participate, click here.

Click here to access data on both kidney disease and the nursing shortage in the United states (by state)

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule that will modernize the Medicare Conditions for Coverage (CFC) for the nation’s dialysis centers and promote higher quality of care for patients receiving dialysis.

The final regulation will enhance the quality of care available to more than 336,000 Medicare beneficiaries with End-State Renal Disease (ESRD) who receive dialysis treatment from more than 4,700 Medicare-approved renal dialysis facilities across the U.S. The regulation reflects important clinical and scientific advances in dialysis technology and standards of care practices. The regulation also updates the current requirements that were first published in 1976.

Dialysis facilities must meet CFC to be certified under the Medicare program. Facilities will have 180 days from April 15, 2008 to be in compliance with the new rules.

Conditions for Coverage (CFC) - Please note the complete document is 625 pages in length; the actual rule begins on page 557.